20 ASPARAGUS 



and even when twelve to fifteen inches long are per- 

 ieAly tender and of a delicate light green color. 



I/iib. — Originated in New Hampshire several years 

 ago, and was introduced by Joseph Breck & Sons, 

 Boston, Mass. Although not generally catalogued, it 

 is a distindl and valuable variety that has made a 

 decided record for itself in the tests of the Kansas Ex- 

 periment Station, where its yield, b}^ weight, was 

 greater than any other. 



Mammoth. — This is a somewhat indefinite term, as 

 almost any prominent .seedsman and grower who has a 

 particularly good and large strain of asparagus suffixes 

 it to his own name. Among the best known of these 

 are Vick's Mammoth, Maule's Mammoth, Prescott's 

 Mammoth, etc. 



Moore's Cross-bred. — This originated with J. B. 

 Moore, who for twent}' years was awarded the first 

 prize on asparagus at the exhibitions of the Massa- 

 chusetts Horticultural Society, at one of which the 

 weight of twelve stalks was 4 pounds 6^ ounces. It 

 retains the head close until the stalks are quite long, 

 and is of uniform color, while for tenderness and 

 eating quality it is excelled by none. It is particularly 

 recommended for cultivation in New England. 



Palmetto. — A variet}^ of Southern origin, but suit- 

 able for the North also. At the South it is somewhat 

 earlier than Conover's Colossal, but its great advantage 

 is that it is almost destitute of, what dealers call, culls, 

 nearly all shoots being of a uniform and large size. 

 The bunch from which the engraving (Fig. 12) was 

 made measured twenty-two inches in circumference, 



